In A5a, it works like this.
I've never understood the weird Yank convention of writing telephone numbers as "(123) 456-7890" and so on. How much of that is the area code? One would think, just the bit in parentheses -- but then WTF is the dash all about? And do I dial it all in one fell swoop, without pausing for a dial tone at any point? If so, then why have any weird delimiters at all? And if not, then where do I pause -- at the dash? After the bit in parentheses? Both? Neither? Who the fuck knows...
You got a lot of it right. It's historical baggage. The (123) is the Area Code. It used to be that you needed to dial that if you were calling Long Distance, and you didn't if it was a Local call.
AFAIK, the - is to help people remember the number. To us, phone numbers are said as: Four Five Six (pause) Seven Eight Nine Oh/Zero. It also goes back to the days of [link|http://ourwebhome.com/TENP/Recommended.html|"exchanges"] like BRoadway-549 and, later, GLenview6-7890. In those days, you'd probably have started off by talking to an operator though.
It makes a lot more sense to my ear to have a 3 pause 3 pause 4 number than what the UK seems to do (based on the [link|http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/us/contact/index.shtml|BBC] numbers I've heard):
"Double Four (pause) Zero Two Zero Seven Two Four Zero (pause) Three Four Five Six"
Maybe we have a shorter attention span than the British. But Canada uses our system too, so it can't simply be that we're brain damaged.
It used to be that one had to pause after dialing 1 for Long Distance. I think the switching software doesn't care anymore.
A lot of metropolitan areas in the US require the use of an Area Code even for Local calls now, because so many numbers have been given out. But I still remember, and it wasn't that long ago, that one could dial 4 numbers in small towns in Ohio and reach the party you wanted in the same town.
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.